The Price of a Fox
by TheHyruleFool
Summary: After so many slain, a bounty is put on Ahri's head. Who else to hunt her down than Sarah Fortune.
1. Prologue

It surged through her, the energy, the power, the rejuvenation. Her veins, skin, bones, everything, it ran through absolutely every part of her. And she could see it too, the small rootings of fur pulling back to leave her human skin almost the only thing visible. This had been a good night, a good prey. He would sustain her for a week, if not more. But she had to flee, there was no good in staying in the same place after a kill, she had learned quickly. She stood, closing the man's eyes and turning, her tails swaying behind her as she slipped away into the night. Leaves and twigs cracked under her feet, but she was too fast, too far. In the morning the humans would find nothing to follow, no discernable trail. Perhaps a tuft of fur on a thorn, but no more.

As high maintenance as this life was, she loved it. She could feel her mind grow and change, exploring new thoughts, asking new questions. Seeing the world differently, being tall and upright. No more scurrying, fighting with her own kind over the littlest scraps of prey. No more nights of hunger, rabbits too fast and squirrels too good of climbers. She could sustain herself easily now, something she would never go back. Ahri was never being a fox again, no matter what it took, how many she would have to consume.

Many miles to the south, Sarah Fortune lay asleep after drinking herself into a blackout. It was the only way she knew to sleep peacefully, the nightmares of her past would have her waking screaming every night if not for the rum. She snored on, dreamless sleep, red hair tossed to and fro over her face, shoulders, and pillows. In the morning there would be a new contract, a new target, and a new voyage. That was her life, waiting for contracts and hunting down the necessary person. Reason didn't matter, difficulty didn't matter. All that mattered was that she got payed, that's what it was about. Feelings were for years gone by, when she let them get to her. That was too long ago, and there was no reason to dwell on it, it would never come back.

The sun rose in the little Ionian town, innkeep running through the rooms to wake everyone up, clean for new guests that would arrive over the day and into the evening. The town was only small in permanent population, but there were travelers and passers through aplenty. If not for the mountain pass that ran through just behind it, the village would have died off long ago. But the road brought goods, and food, and travelers, and money, and so they stayed. The keep thought over all this, as he usually did these kind of mornings without any mist, and unlocked the door to what had been a couple's room last night. There was only one occupant now, and they were no longer truly there. He knelt over the man, feeling his cold flesh, the stiffness of his limbs. He asked the service boy to get him paper and ink, he needed to write a letter.


	2. Abundant Prey and Many Errands

Sarah strutted onboard the Calm and cast off not five minutes after, her crew having woken at dawn to prepare for the voyage. She had errands for this trip, not bounties, leading to her taking her quick rumrunning sloop rather than her usual galleon the Syren. She felt the wind bite her face and hands as the ship hopped across the waves north, toward Ionia. That was a frequent stop for her, be it bounties or errands, due to its closeness to Bilgewater. Many would flee to the close island nation in hopes to avoid gambling debts, or hide from the other parents of their illegitimate children. Sarah made extra sure to find the latter and drag them back, letting very few off after hearing both sides of the story, although there were some exceptions.

Sarah retreated to her cabin and looked over her charts and bounty letters on her desk. She would be heading to the mainland after her stop in Ionia, and heading around the continent counterclockwise until she returned to Bilgewater for nearly half a year's expenses in her payout. She sighed and rolled the charts back up, storing them in the cabinet and looking out over her crew. This would be an uneventful couple hours, and Sarah didn't have much to do. As early as it was, she couldn't drink, or take a nap. She shook her head and went above, watching the sea chop behind them as they sailed north.

Around noon they docked in Southern Ionia, Sarah leaving the Calm with a bag slung over her shoulder and a spring in her step as she navigated through the town, dodging through the bustling marketplace and heading down to a more residential area. She opened the door and smiled, a small boy of about 8 running up and hugging her about the waist.

"Rin, hey, how are you?" Sarah smiled, ruffling his hair and dropping the bag.

"Doing well, Miss Sarah. How are you?" He answered respectfully, although his eyes and face were full of delight as he let go.

"I'm doing pretty well. Is your da-" Sarah stopped as she saw the man, approaching quietly with his bare feet across the floors. He smiled kindly to Sarah.

"Welcome, Miss Fortune, please come inside." He spoke with a heavier accent than his son, eyeing the bag with a bit of embarrassment.

"Please, call me Sarah." She stepped in, ruffling Rin's hair again and dragging the bag with her.

"How are you two doing?" She asked, hefting the bag onto their dinner table and emptying its contents of toys and food fit for growing children.

"I have found a job, Miss Sarah, this isn't necessary." Rin's father shook his head, turning away from the gifts as Rin immediately picked up one of the toys and looked it over.

"I'm sorry, I don't mean to embarrass you, but it's just my policy." Sarah reminded him, as she did every time she visited. It was all he would allow her to do, bring a few meagre provisions and toys or books over once a month. Sarah wanted to do more, having had to lock up Rin's mother when he was only three, and him witnessing their fight also left a bad taste in her mouth.

"I'll be back next month, and congratulations on that job." Sarah waved as she walked away, to grab another bag and visit another child in the town, as she always did when her previous bounties had been parents. It was only right in her mind, stopping any child from having to grow up as she had, without a family or at least a home.

Just north of the town that Sarah occupied, Ahri watched the edges and outskirt farms from the forest it had been cut out of, licking her lips. There would be many here that had not heard of her, many whose souls would nourish her humanity, a far greater purpose than they had served. She could smell them, native and foreigner alike, and it set her senses ablaze, her hunger for humanity eating through her mind.

She dashed forward, pulling a hood over her ears and waving the rest of the cloak behind herself, hiding her tails. She slipped around the edges of the farms, darting between dirt roads and hiding behind sheds so that she could enter the central portion of the settlement unnoticed, and in such a crowded place she would be able to devour many souls before having to escape. It was such a freeing thought, that abundance of prey could serve as her cover, shroud her from discovery. How fortuitous that she had instinctively traveled south, as did many Ionian foxes in their mating season.


End file.
